Kidnapped from Private Drive
by Pasopdromer
Summary: What if, for some reason, Sirius escapes from Azkaban after six years instead of twelve? First stop: Private Drive! Features a somewhat irresponsible but enthusiastic Sirius and a sceptic Harry.
1. Kidnapped from Private Drive

Title: Kidnapped from Privet Drive

Author: Pasopdromer

Rating: K+

A/N: Please R&R!

Disclaimer: nothing belongs to me! HP and everything else sprung from J.K. Rowling's genius and rightfully belong to her.

***

It was a dreary sunday afternoon. Outside a drizzle had started around midnight and had never ended. The television set of number four Privet drive could be heard screaming from the living room. On the couch sat Harry's fat cousin watching the screen with empty eyes. For a while, Harry had been watching from a corner of the room. But now a sense of mind-numbing dullness, that had been steadily increasing over the pas few hours, drove him outside to the hall way.  
He was leaning on a door post, considering whether he would pay heed to a desperate need to get out of the house, even if it meant venturing into the drizzle, when the door bell rang. That was actually a bit odd: they weren't expecting any adult visitors: if this had been the case, Harry's aunt Petunia would have been busy all morning wiping every inch of the house with anti-bacterial cloth. And it was unlikely that any of Dudley's cronies would be so bold as to arrive at number four Privet Drive in wet clothing. They had learned from experience that Petunia's screams at such behavior were no laughing matter.  
So Harry was not surprised to see the kitchen door open slowly, revealing a wide-eyed, horse-faced Petunia, staring at the front door in shock.  
'Was that the door bell?', Vernon yelled from the living room. Petunia was so intent staring that she forgot to answer.  
'Er... yes', Harry said.  
Vernon came outside the living room into the hall way.  
'Are you expecting someone' he hissed to Petunia. She shook her head in an agitated fashion. Vernon whirled towards Harry. '_You_ didn't invite anyone, did you?' he whispered urgently.  
'No, who would I invite?'. Harry had not spoken in a whisper as he had not felt that the situation required it, but Vernon angrily shushed him. Several seconds passed and neither his uncle nor his aunt made any inclination to open the door, so Harry thought he should take matters into his own hands.  
'Shall I open it?'. His uncle jumped.  
'You stay right where you are', he hissed.  
The door bell rang again.  
'Who'f dere!?', shouted Dudley from the living room, apparently stuffing his mouth with something at the same time. That seemed to shock Vernon into action, because he suddenly strode over to the door and threw it open. In the rain stood a man. He had his hands in the pockets of a rain coat and wore a cowl so that his face was largely hidden. Vernon eyed the man from top to bottom and then continued to gaze at his hidden face.  
The man, waiting for some word of greeting, didn't say anything for a few seconds. It then seemed to dawn on him that no words of greeting were going to come, so he ventured: 'Hello. I'm looking for Harry Potter'. Harry's heart leapt into his throat. Now here was a novelty: someone visiting him! He wanted to move over to the door, but his aunt grabbed him rather painfully by the arm. Not being able to get closer to the stranger, Harry tiptoed trying to see over Vernon's shoulder. Vernon's face purpled.  
'There's no one by that name living here', and he threw the door shut.  
'Hey!', Harry protested. But Vernon grabbed Harry's shoulder and dragged him up the first few steps.  
'Get upstairs, don't make a sound!'. The door bell rang for the third time. Vernon cursed and let go of Harry. He cast a warning glance in Harry's direction and threw open the door. 'Now see here!', he bellowed, 'there's no Harry Potter here, so get lost!'. Being taller than Vernon, the man outside could peer over him and he saw Harry standing on the stairs.  
'Who's that then?'.  
'None of your business', Vernon roared and tried to close the door for a second time. But now the stranger was too quick for him. He put his foot between the door, and Vernon, try as he might, couldn't close it.  
'I just want to talk to him', the man gasped, seemingly trying to ignore the pain from the door that kept smashing his foot.  
'Leave. Us. Alone!', Vernon yelled, punctuating each syllable with a smash from the door. But the stranger obviously meant business, because, seeing that he couldn't get inside in a civilized manner, threw his weight against the door. His timing was good: the door was just bouncing back from the stranger's foot and that, combined with the momentum from the stranger's push was more than Vernon could handle. The door flew open and Vernon fell backwards on the floor. Petunia screamed. Harry supposed Dudley would come waddling out of the living room any second now, but the television set was still screaming and it seemed Harry's cousin was too engaged to notice anything.  
'Shish!' said the stranger, who was now standing inside the hall way looking bewildered at Vernon and Petunia (who were cowering against the kitchen door), 'I just wanted to talk to Harry. There's really no reason for being so inhospitable. I came through the front door and everything'. That last remark seemed a bit odd to Harry, as if the stranger has also considered coming through the kitchen widow. The stranger then tore off his cowl and turned around towards Harry. Now that Harry could see the man's face, he thought it looked rather unhealthy. It was so thin that it looked almost skeleton-like and purple lines ran under his eyes. His hair looked like it hadn't been combed... ever. When the man saw Harry, his face broke into a grin.  
'Hi', he said.  
'Hello', Harry said back.  
'I'm Sirius Black, I was your father's best friend and I'm your god-father. You ever heard of me?'. The man had spoken rather fast.  
'No!' Harry said surprised, 'Never!'. The man looked rather relieved at this.  
'Oh! Good, Excellent!'. Harry stood gaping at the man, waiting for further exciting revelations, but the stranger fell quiet. Seemingly at odds about what he would do now he glanced at Petunia and Vernon who were still cowering against the door, then back at Harry, and then back at Harry's aunt and uncle.  
'Say...' he said, 'would you mind if I took Harry for a... a walk?'. At first both Vernon and Petunia seemed too frightened to answer, but then Vernon gasped  
'Take'm!'. The man looked as if he couldn't believe his luck.  
'Good!', he said happily. Then, suddenly realizing something, he looked at Harry: 'You want to come along, don't you?', he asked.  
'Hell yeah!', said Harry and he bounced down the stairs and grabbed his coat from the hat stand.  
'Well', said the man again turning his attention to Vernon and Petunia, 'I'll bring him right back, I promise'. As he was not graced with a reply, Sirius turned around and, with Harry in front of him, walked outside and shut the door.


	2. Apparating all over the country

Apparating all over the country

When Harry had reached the pavement he turned around to the stranger to ask which way they were going. But he then saw that the man was wearing a rather odd expression on his face: greedy and somewhat evil. Suddenly Harry was certain that not all was right. He tried to back away but too late. The man grabbed him and made a sudden twisting motion. The next second, Harry became aware of a very unpleasant sensation: he felt like he was being pushed through a narrow tube. The sensation was so strange and unexpected that Harry panicked and became instantly sick. He tried to break free of the man's grasp but couldn't. He tried to throw up and found that his intestines were pressed too tight for this. He was overcome by panic. However, the next moment the feeling receded slowly. Harry was freed from the tube or whatever it was, and fell on his knees on a leaf covered ground. He sat there with his hands on the floor until he had evicted his entire breakfast.  
When Harry became aware of his surroundings, he realized that he was no longer at Privet Drive. In fact, he was no longer in an urban area: he was lying on the grass in what seemed to be a forest. The ridiculousness of this hit Harry hard. He jumped up and was almost relieved to find that at least the stranger was still there. The man looked a bit shocked.  
'Sorry about that. It was the quickest way to get out of there. I didn't mean to make you sick'.  
'Whawasthat! What did you do?'.  
'We apparated', said the man as if 'apparated' was a British word like any other.  
'We what?'.  
'You don't know what that is, do you? It's... disappearing in one place and the appearing in another'.  
'Oh...', said Harry weakly, 'that's not possible'.  
'Well,', Harry saw an an impatient glint flash across the man's eyes, 'you've got a lot to learn, eh? No time for that now though. We've got to move on'.  
'Why haven't we got time for that? Why have we got to move on?'.  
'Never you mind'. The man was now obviously impatient, 'Are you fit to walk?'.  
Harry considered that for a moment. The feeling of sickness had quite disappeared.  
'Yeah'.  
'Good'. The man strode over towards Harry, grabbed his arm and started pulling him into a seemingly random direction of the forest. Harry uttered a 'hey' in protest but was ignored. The next ten minutes he was half running to keep up with the man who was long-legged and obviously in a hurry. When a particularly unpleasant sting in his side reached its peak, Harry halted, and, to stall the man who was pulling him along, asked:  
'Look, where are we going?'.  
Exasperated the man stopped as well. 'To a pub, where you can get some food and we can talk. We're almost there'.  
That foresight was so pleasing to Harry that he allowed himself to be dragged on again.

It wasn't a pub that Sirius was taking Harry, but one of these houses that lay in the middle of the forest, that sell pancakes and which are completely empty on week days, but crowded on Sundays, filled with hyperactive children and tired looking parents. Today was no exception, even though the weather was grey and unpleasant. With difficulty Sirius managed to find them a small table. He ordered them a 'What will you have? Milk probably. A milk and a lager'. Harry had no idea why Sirius would think he wanted milk, but it was fine with him. The few times in his life that the Dursley's had taken him to a place like this he hadn't gotten anything at all and had to get all his nourishment from inhaling the extra large menus that were ordered for Dudley. The waiter looked suspiciously at Sirius' shallow face, but accepted the order without comment.  
'So', Sirius said, 'You'll probably have some questions'._  
More like a billion_, Harry thought, but the man was yet an unknown quantity so he said, 'yes, I do'.  
'Let's hear them then'.  
Harry set off with the question that had been foremost on his mind: 'Are you really a friend of my dad's?'.  
'Yeah I am. Is that so surprising? Didn't think your dad had any friends? Or don't I look the type?'. Harry considered that. He didn't know a single thing about his parents except that they died in a car crash. Perhaps they had been so poor that they couldn't afford any food, just like this guy.  
'Why did you never drop by before?'.  
The man looked stricken at this question, 'I was previously engaged'.  
'How?'.  
'You're a bit nosy, aren't you? I would have dropped by if I could. I don't shirk my duties as godfather lightly, you know'. Harry flushed red a the reproach.  
'You said I could ask questions!', he protested.  
'Yeah yeah alright. I'll get back to that particular one. You got any other questions?'. Sirius said this as if he hoped Harry didn't. At that moment the waiter returned with milk and the lager and Harry waited until he was out of ear shot.  
'What's this _apparating_. I'm not stupid. That kind of thing is not supposed to be possible'.  
'Keep your voice down!', Sirius hissed, and in a friendlier voice he continued, 'No, not in your world, but it is in mine. And actually that's your world too'.  
'What world is that?', Harry asked now very much interested.

***

And Sirius told him everything about the wizard world and doing magic and all the other stuff that readers of HP fanfiction already know all about.

***

When Sirius finished explaining, Harry sat gaping with unfocused eyes, thinking that the world had just become a lot more interesting.  
'And so this Dumbledore character placed me with my aunt and uncle because they were my only remaining family? But why didn't he let me stay with you? You're my godfather after all'.  
'Err... well... as I said I was previously engaged'.  
'Can't have been much food involved'. The little color in Sirius' face drained away and it was a few seconds before he replied.  
'No, there wasn't'. At that moment Harry saw two police men enter the restaurant.  
'Look', Harry said, 'what do they want?'.  
Sirius turned around and stared at the two men.  
'What's with them? Why are they looking like that'.  
Harry goggled at Sirius. 'You sure don't know a lot about us _muggles_. if you don't know what they are! They're police men'.  
'You're not a muggle. What's a "police man"'.  
Harry saw one of the men talking to the waiter and now the waiter was pointing towards Sirius and him. The police man nodded and he and his partner started approaching hurriedly.  
'They're coming this way!', Harry hissed.  
'What!', Sirius whirled and pulled out from the pocket of his rain coat an object which Harry surmised must be his wizarding wand. Sirius jumped up and pointed the little stick at the two men, shouting at the same time something which sounded like 'petrificus totalus'. The next moment the two men went rigid and seemed nailed on the spot like statues. People around them screamed. For an instant Harry didn't know what to do. A voice in his head warned him that he should run, as this 'friend of his dad's' was obviously in some trouble with the law. For all Harry knew he could be an mad murderer. But on the other hand, the prospect of being back at Privet Drive was not inviting at all. The next moment the choice was taken from Harry as Sirius grabbed his arm, made the 'apparating' motion for the second time, and the same terrible feeling of being squeezed through a tube overwhelmed Harry.

***

This time Harry was not given time to get himself back together. Sirius jerked him from the ground, which this time was made completely from sand.  
'Who were that!', Sirius shouted shaking Harry angrily.  
'Hey!', Harry yelled, trying to pry himself loose from Sirius' grip.  
'Answer me!'.  
'Police men! People that find criminals'. Harry gasped. Sirius let go and Harry fell back several steps. He put his hands on his knees and took a few deep breaths trying to overcome the feeling of nausea. When Harry looked up, he realized that were at the beach. The beach! Harry had never been there, had only seen it on television. The salt pricked in his nose and a sharp wind blew through his hair. To his right the sea crawled up to the land. He inhaled the sea breeze and suddenly saw that Sirius looked at him wide-eyed.  
'L.. look...', Sirius stuttered, 'I'm not a criminal. It's because I'm a wizard. Muggles hate wizards, you know'. Harry didn't believe that. After all, Sirius just said in the pancake house that muggles didn't know about wizards. So Harry said nothing. Sirius seemed to suspect what Harry was thinking because his face grew dark.  
'Alright, so I'm a wanted man. Happy now?'.  
'What are you wanted for?'.  
Sirius shook his head, 'I'm not telling you that. I didn't do it anyway'.  
'If you didn't do it you can tell me'.  
'Can I? How would you know? A seven-year old who believed apparating to be impossible only seven minutes before? Now be quiet for a minute, while I think of what do next'. Harry fumed at these words and secretly felt that he didn't like the man very much but he held his tongue.  
'If only I had my bike', he heard the man murmur, 'why did I borrow it to that gigantic pea-brained... but they would have confiscated it anyway'.  
'Why can't we just apparate somewhere else?', Harry asked forgetting that he wasn't supposed to say anything.  
'You can't apparate to where you've never been', Sirius said in a surprisingly patient tone, 'and it doesn't make things easier that I have to take you with me. Side-along apparation complicates matters'.  
'Oh... Can't we take the train then?'.  
Sirius didn't reply and Harry decided it was safer not to push him. Suddenly Sirius seemed to reach a decision.  
'We need my bike', he said.


	3. Stealing a motor cycle from a halfgiant

_Stealing a motor cycle from a half-giant_

After another nauseating apparation event, Harry found himself on a sunny hill side. The change in whether suggested that they had traveled far this time. At the bottom of the hill was a small picturesque looking village.  
'Come with me', Sirius said. By now Harry was tired of being dragged along, apparating to completely unfamiliar places and being sick, and he intended to say just that, but when he looked at Sirius' face he changed his mind. The lines under the man's eyes had darkened, and he looked both extremely tired and ready to lunge at Harry the moment Harry opened his mouth. So when Sirius strode off, Harry followed him silently, wondering where all this would lead. They didn't go down towards the village. Instead they gave it a wide berth. After about an hour's walk they came to a forest. It was a huge, beautiful forest with ancient, gnawed trees. Harry thought one could easily get lost in it, but Sirius seemed to know exactly where he was going. And sure enough, after a short while, a large cabin appeared between the trees. They kept the cabin at their right hand until the trees began to thin. When they reached the periphery of the forest Sirius stopped and turned towards Harry.  
'Wait here and keep watch. I'm going to get my bike. If you see someone approach, make a sound like an owl. You hear them enough around here'.  
He turned towards the cabin and started to approach it. Then he hesitated and turned towards Harry again. Harry thought he suddenly looked a little sad, as if things were not going as well as he'd hoped.  
'I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere. Once I have the bike we'll be alright. You'll be happy I took you with me, you'll see'.  
Then something happened that made Harry almost scream out loud. Sirius' body shriveled and turned into something hairy, inhuman. Horror surged up in him and turned into wonder when he realized that Sirius had turned into a large shaggy dog. The dog continued towards the cabin at a quick pace and walked around it out of sight.  
Harry leaned towards a tree and looked out over the fields in front of the forest. At the horizon he could see a castle-like building and he wondered about it. He felt calm. Sirius' last words had quenched his worries somewhat. Perhaps this man was a criminal, but, Harry argued, it was better to be with a criminal that liked him and had been his father's best friend, than to be with the Durseley's, who were impeccable British citizens, but who thought Harry was something vile. Moreover the sun was shining and filled Harry with a sleepy sense of happiness. He was almost asleep when he heard voices. His heart started beating fast as he hid behind a tree and studied the fields. Three people and a huge dog were approaching. Two of them seemed to be teenagers, but the third! The third seemed more than thrice as long as his companions. Without realizing it Harry took a step backwards. The small group seemed to be going straight for the cabin. Panicky Harry started making sounds that he hoped were owl-like. To his horror the group stopped and the two teenagers and the giant looked around in wonder. Harry quickly stopped, more frightened than he had ever been in waking memory. For a while the group stood listening. Then the giant shrugged and laughed and the group continued towards the cabin. But Harry's relief was short-lived: within less than a minute they would be at the cabin. Had Sirius heard him?  
Harry turned his attention to the cabin and saw that Sirius had appeared, once again in human form. Next to him he held the steering wheel of a huge motor cycle. Harry jumped up and down waving his arms in the threesome's direction. Sirius spotted him and moved his hand towards his mouth, signaling Harry to keep quiet. The two teenagers and the giant were now at the front door of the cabin. They went through it unaware that Sirius was standing at the other side. But there were windows in the cabin and any moment now Sirius would be discovered. Sirius too seemed to realize this, because he started pulling frantically at the bike trying to move it through the muddy ground. This was no easy feat, as the roots of the trees made the floor uneven and the leaves tended to get stuck in the wheels. Thinking that he might help, Harry broke into a run towards Sirius and he started pushing the back of the bike, peeking every now and then at the cabin's windows to see if some of the people inside had discovered them.  
'We need to get to the steadier ground outside the forest', Sirius puffed, 'I'll be able to start the engine there!'. The ground indeed seemed to be getting harder as they got nearer the edge and the bike became easier to push. But then a terrible roar came from the cabin. It was so ridiculously loud that Harry knew it could only have come from the giant. He became so afraid that his muscles seemed to paralyze on the spot. He turned around and stared at the cabin door. It flew open and the giant appeared in the opening.  
'Sirius Black!', the giant roared. Sirius responded by pulling at his bike with renewed efforts. The giant started running towards them with huge strides and Harry felt his knees go weak. Behind him he heard the sound of an engine starting.  
'Harry, come on!', Sirius yelled. The giant stopped in his tracks and stared at Harry.  
'Harry? Harry Potter?'. Harry took another step backwards. The giant was still about thirty feet away. He looked around at Sirius. Only about ten between him and the bike. He looked again at the giant who, for some inexplicable reason, had known his name.  
'Harry!', the giant shouted again, a panicky edge to it, 'don't go with 'im! He'll kill you! He murdered yer mum an' dad!'. Harry stared, trying to make sense of what the giant had said and not wanting to believe it.  
'Harry, please!', Sirius begged. For a moment Harry hesitated. The giant or the criminal. Harry had known the criminal only for a few hours, but the giant was completely unfamiliar. In this new wizard's world anything was possible, including man-eating, mind-reading giants. Harry whirled around, ran to the bike and climbed up. As soon as his feet were off the floor, Sirius stepped on the gas peddle and the bike shot forward.  
'Harry! No!', the giant came running towards them. He was surprisingly fast for such a large creature, but not fast enough to keep up with a speeding bike. When the bike left the earth and moved up into the air, all the speed in the world couldn't help the giant. Looking down Harry saw his lonely figure staring at them as they flew away.


End file.
